Liver Transplant

A liver transplant is surgery to remove your diseased or injured liver and replace it with a healthy liver from another person, called a donor. If your liver stops working properly, called liver failure, a liver transplant can save your life.

Before a liver transplant, you’ll be referred to a transplant center, evaluated by a transplant team, and if approved, placed on the national waiting list for a deceased donor. If you have a living donor, the transplant center won’t place you on the national waiting list and will schedule your surgery.

Doctors perform liver transplant surgery by removing your liver and replacing it with a donor’s liver. Liver transplant surgery can take up to 12 hours or longer. For a deceased donor transplant, surgery starts when the donor liver arrives at the hospital.

After a liver transplant, you will see your doctor often to make sure your new liver is working properly. You will have regular blood tests to check for signs of organ rejection and take medicines the rest of your life to prevent organ rejection.

This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
(NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. The NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings
through its clearinghouses and education programs to increase knowledge and understanding about health and
disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by the NIDDK is carefully
reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.

The NIDDK would like to thank:Michael R. Lucey, M.D., University of Wisconsin–Madison

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